Good infographic on Long Covid: The astounding impact and reach of long Covid, in numbers and charts | Long Covid | The Guardian NB I read something that said we shouldn't be called it 'long covid', but simply 'covid' - there's covid in the acute stage, and then covid in the chronic stage.

I'm on day 3 of the last term of the year - I program term by term. I've already dropped writing out daily quotes from famous people as their copywork. I've realised a lot of out of context quotes are pretty trite; I'm going to go back to getting them to write out short poems instead. Science is working (thanks for the idea, somebody on here - we're drawing a new Australian dinosaur each day, very easy way to learn a lot of facts). Social studies also has the potential to work - they have to make a timeline of literally anything at all, historical or geographical - so it's all research skills and working out how time changes with CE/BCE and so on. English is super relaxed, just discussing an audiobook we're listening to together, and writing fanfic (which they do for fun). Then there's maths. They've got one online activity and one paper activity and they're not happy that it's double-dosing, but they need the review on top of the new stuff. I think we should get through this term ok.

I've got to say, it sounds like your boss is an outright covid denier. So awful, I'm sorry. I mask 100% at work and see babies all the time, and I can still make them laugh and smile at me - they can tell when I'm smiling and when I'm doing the surprised eyebrow thing! A mask is NOT the equivalent of a completely blank face.

I loved Muir Woods when I visited the US. Unfortunately, for some reason I was terrified a cougar/mountain lion whatever you call them was likely to leap out of the bushes. Maybe the tour bus driver had been telling stories? Anyway, that was the only downer to the visit. I'll never forget those trees.

This is an autistic-led organisation for girls and women, has a few books on their site: Yellow Ladybugs I used to work with families with kids with autism who were 0-6. I always started by videoing interactions and then watching them, the idea was for the adult to look at what they're missing (a lot easier to do than in the moment). One thing I always began with was having long sessions of time where the adult doesn't speak at all, so that the child learns to look for information in other ways (eg looking for facial expression, body language, gestures).

Apparently the astra zeneca nasal spray trial has been a complete failure. so that's depressing. Hoping the one being tested in Australia is working, but there's been no information. I think part of the issue is that it's hard to ensure the droplets reach where they're supposed to. AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine suffers a setback in nasal spray trial | Reuters

The one time I made an appt for him, he wouldn't go. He will make his own appts for things but he's pretty slack - had to get a tooth pulled after neglecting it for years. He definitely has that male thing of 'if I ignore it, maybe I'll just die in my sleep and won't have to deal with it'.

If you're seriously interested, you should keep an eye on it. I think if it ran two days a week it would be legal - then it's not the majority of the time. You'd have to set it up as a not for profit. If you taught in 2 different areas, two days a week at each, maybe you could make it work financially? It'd be a risk though.

Yes, in NSW you definitely have to spend the majority of your time in your home to be legally homeschooling. It's kind of pricy too, but I think could be great for some families.

Hey @Ausmumof3, have you seen this: Pod School – A covid-safe alternative to primary school in South Australia (podlearning.au)

Re-reads only; Ruth Park's The Harp in the South, and Playing Beatie Bow. She was a famous Australian author and the latter book was one almost every kid studied at school when I was younger. It's a time-travel story, whereas the former book, also set in Sydney, is a gritty adult story, very much like your "A Tree Grew in Brooklyn", perhaps a bit grittier. Re-read the super comfort fantasy read, Legends and Lattes. Recommended if you want a warm friend-focused fantasy book. I stupidly lent my Kobo to someone and they've mislaid it - never again! Hopefully will get it back safe and sound.

oh ok. well, I guess that's good for my husband who hasn't had the 4th yet, hopefully he will get it before surgery (hopefully. it's up to him). But it's a bit slack on the rest of us who dutifully got the 4th when we were told to.

Yep. If you ask "can you do X?" and he says "no", then what can you do? It's not women being 'super-protective' or whatever. It's the reality that you cannot make another person do anything if they choose not to. I've ended up with almost all the housework, plus working 6 days and doing the homeschooling. I can ask straight out, but when they answer is "no", then there's not much else I can do.

No, the 4th shot isn't the bivalent, the bivalent isn't available in Australia yet. The 4th shot was initially limited to certain people and then they opened it up (supply issues). The uptake has been very low, because you can't remove all protections (indicating covid is over) while simultaneously urging a vaccine (what for, covid is over).

Just wanted to revive this thread as we're now scheduled to experience our fourth flood this year. I saw some pictures of flooding in Victoria and more rain to come, and I've heard it's flooding out west too. Stay safe!

I don't know if it's possible, but if the child was no problem at all in the K class with the K teacher, they need to consider moving the child there for a bit while your daughter gets the rest of the class organised. Then moving the child back up once a few things are in place, beginning with a few hours and then extending the time.

We also live in a fire zone but I feel like the benefits of the area are worth the risk. Partly because we can drive to safety pretty easily - we're not in a place that gets cut off (like those poor people in boats on NYE 2019/2020). We can afford insurance and if our place did burn to the ground we have family we could stay with while we rebuilt. The worst part for us of 2019 fires, apart from the fear, was the months of smoke before and afterwards, which I'm sure damaged a lot of people's health. We have had 3 locals die or have serious surgery from aneurisms since then and I do wonder about a link.

If your daughter can't get an aide immediately, can she create a safe space in the classroom for child (even if it means putting the child on a screen for a bit). Then she could take a look at the rest of the class - explicit rules and really clear routines, so there is no question about what happens next. Look at things like - are things falling off the desk/can everything be removed from the desk/can a special box be affixed to the desk to stop things falling (I found this a huge issue in kids with EF issues). Visual supports. Super important. Pictures of what is happening so it is 100% clear. She can look online for ideas. Taking data would be helpful but tricky. It could be as simple as having a sheet of paper with times already listed on it (say each half hour) and she could mark that time if he's acting up. That would give her some good info about how often and when, if it relates to certain times. Oh, one thing that she might look out for - is there a natural leader in the class? Getting that person on side can change everything.

Looks like the NSW government has now deactivated the map with covid cases by postcode. There's no way of knowing whether cases in the local area are rising or falling. There's only weekly state numbers. I suppose they're trying to end covid by reducing the data. I guess the next step will be to stop testing. Then there'll be no covid cases, right? My husband will be having surgery in the next few months (I think we find out tomorrow) and I'd say that may well be how it enters our household. He hasn't got his 4th shot yet so hopefully will get it about 2 weeks before the surgery.

Yes. In Australia I think they found about 30% of covid cases are caught while in hospital. This is because they aren't separating out covid and non covid cases, apparently. Which seems insane. There have been a lot of deaths where someone's gone in to hospital for a broken ankle or something not so serious, have caught covid and have died - Liverpool hospital in particular had shockingly high numbers. Definitely still masking and avoiding indoor crowds - I don't want Long Covid, and I don't want to spread to others in my community who may be vulnerable.

Since the floods here in Eastern Australia, FB has been going crazy with 'cloud seeding by the government' conspiracies. I'm not sure why the govt would want to flood all these places, but?? I personally think this sort of thing is started by people who profit from fossil fuels etc, as the reality - this is all caused by climate change, esp the heating oceans - is not good for their bottom line. All they need to do is feed a few crazy ideas to the usual cranks, and there they go.

Yep, I know a guy who is renting in what is now a flood zone (we've had 3 floods this year so far, another one possible before the end of the year). He's desperately looking for another rental to relocate his family but of course so is everyone else . . . no luck so far.

Only a few hours till the end of the week for us; I'm at work counting down the hours. I'm off for four days and taking the kids out west by myself to a few historical places I've never visited (here's me ticking off a few key learning areas). I'm nervous because I don't love driving, but the roads are supposed to be fine and it should be fun.

When I was religious, I thought that people who weren't either just didn't understand or were bad. I didn't really get that you could know about Christianity/religion and just not agree. I think the older I get the more I understand that two people can look at the same thing and have a completely different opinion, and not be 'wrong'.

Yep. We've already informed family we won't be attending our usual big gathering. Apparently the CHO said Australia hasn't been badly affected by Long Covid - which is just a crazy thing to say. Firstly, we've only less than 12 months of 'let it rip' policies to infect everyone, and secondly, how much research has been done? So glad I just got approved for homeschooling till Jan 2024.